The chart above shows the ten-year interest rate in each EU state as of April 2021, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Eight states have a negative interest rate (down from 10 last month and up from 5 last year).
Findings
- The difference (spread) between the state with the lowest long-term interest rate, Luxembourg, and the state with the highest, Romania, is 3.22 percentage points (down from 3.36 last month and down from 5.28 last year). Luxembourg had the lowest rate last month and Germany had the lowest rate last year. Romania had the highest rate last month and last year.
- The median long-term interest rate in the 28 EU states is 0.16 (same as 0.16 the previous month and down from 0.31 last year) and the mean 0.48 (up from 0.46 the previous month and down from 0.77 last year).
- Of the 27 states, 3 saw no change in the long-term interest rate from the previous month, 8 saw the rate decrease, and 16 saw the rate increase.
- Of the 27 states, 0 saw no change in the long-term interest rate from last year, 20 saw the rate decrease, and 7 saw the rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from April 2020, March 2021, and April 2021.
- Estonia does not currently issue any sovereign debt that complies with the definition of long-term interest rates for convergence purposes and no suitable proxy indicator has been identified, therefore there is no data available for Estonia.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
Romania saw the rate drop the most over the previous month dropping 0.12 percentage point. On the flip side, Portugal saw the rate rise the most gaining 0.12 percentage points. Year over year, Romania saw the rate drop the most with a 1.99 percentage point drop while Czechia saw the rate rise the most gaining 0.58 percentage points.
Slovakia (from 8th lowest rate to 6th lowest rate) and Sweden (from 18th lowest rate to 16th lowest rate) rose 2 spots over the course of the month. Conversely, Belgium (from 9th to 11th) fell 2 spots.
Over the course of the year, Slovakia (from 17th to 6th) rose 11 spots. On the flip side, Sweden (from 5th to 16th) fell 11 spots.
For reference, the United States' ten-year note was 0.66% in April 2020, 1.61% in March 2021, and 1.62% in April 2021, meaning that Czechia, Hungary, and Romania have higher rates than the US. Japan's ten-year rate was 0.00% in April 2020, 0.10% in March 2021, and 0.09% in April 2021 being bested by Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Finland, Slovakia, Austria, France, Denmark, Slovenia, Belgium, and Ireland.
Data
| State | April 2020 | March 2021 | April 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | -0.09 | -0.2 | -0.09 |
| Belgium | -0.02 | -0.21 | -0.04 |
| Bulgaria | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.14 |
| Croatia | 0.96 | 0.52 | 0.51 |
| Cyprus | 1.26 | 0.3 | 0.39 |
| Czechia | 1.28 | 1.49 | 1.87 |
| Denmark | -0.41 | -0.28 | -0.03 |
| Finland | -0.12 | -0.22 | -0.13 |
| France | -0.06 | -0.15 | -0.07 |
| Germany | -0.54 | -0.45 | -0.36 |
| Greece | 1.97 | 0.81 | 0.91 |
| Hungary | 2.43 | 2.43 | 2.68 |
| Ireland | 0.07 | -0.06 | 0.03 |
| Italy | 1.55 | 0.59 | 0.7 |
| Latvia | -0.06 | -0.25 | -0.2 |
| Lithuania | 0.31 | 0.16 | 0.16 |
| Luxembourg | -0.36 | -0.45 | -0.4 |
| Malta | 0.4 | 0.41 | 0.4 |
| Netherlands | -0.33 | -0.39 | -0.33 |
| Poland | 1.8 | 1.31 | 1.53 |
| Portugal | 0.71 | 0.16 | 0.23 |
| Romania | 4.56 | 2.65 | 2.96 |
| Slovakia | 0.04 | -0.18 | -0.05 |
| Slovenia | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.03 |
| Spain | 0.52 | 0.23 | 0.31 |
| Sweden | -0.17 | 0.25 | 0.4 |
| United Kingdom | 0.41 | 0.56 | 0.78 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "EMU Convergence Criterion Series - Monthly Data." Accessed June 8, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055774_QID_-7A6C897B_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;INT_RT,L,Z,0;INDICATORS,C,Z,1;&zSelection=DS-055774INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-055774INT_RT,MCBY;&rankName1=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INT-RT_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName4=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.
Eurostat. 2021. "Government Bond Yields, Ten Years' Maturity - Monthly Data." Accessed June 8, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-054880_QID_-1EAA4212_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;MATURITY,L,Z,0;INDICATORS,C,Z,1;&zSelection=DS-054880INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-054880MATURITY,Y10;&rankName1=MATURITY_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName4=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.